Just saw some amazing footage on the importance of herring in the entire ecological foundation of the pacific northwest from massive whales to fishes to the forest trees as a famous Indian chief once said "all things are connected".

There was a lot of coverage on the decline of pinipeds which we tend to associate with salmonid declines however they are much more closely tied to the presence of herring than any other species and much less offensive to watch than the bears who ate only the salmon's skin and roe.

But ANYWAY - man they had some good footage of coho feeding on herring they had rounded up. No wonder they rip the rod out of the hands. I have seen the aggressive behavior in clouds of bait from above but it's nothing like the footage shows underwater.

Also some important info on herring behavior that explains a lot of my past luck with big chinook to experiment with this year.

However the stark reality is that over-exploitation of these critical food chain links has proven to be devastating and the roe and bait fishery (once processing as meal and oil) is something to be closely watched.

The populations of herring and connected wildlife in Prince William Sound have not recovered from the Exxon Valdez spill in fact sea mammals are in decline by 20% annually still and the herring have never recovered because of the timing of the spill in their life cycle. F* you very much Exxon!

Pretty much leaves me with the same feeling I always get about our impact on nature - we humans can screw up anything. but before we do, I am totally pumped to take in the ocean coho fishery this year!

Decline of pinnipeds? Surely you jest. Harbor seals seem overabundant and there hardly seems any lack of sea lions. Are these declines mentioned in the film confined to a specific area in SE Alaska, or what?

Apparently the sea lion population is diminishing correspondingly with herring populations. SE AK is one area where the trend is opposite, they are increasing as are other species who depend on herring.